


a hand to hold

by the13thCaretaker



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 15:12:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6381415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the13thCaretaker/pseuds/the13thCaretaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a terrible night when the Starks are in a car accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a hand to hold

It was a dark and stormy day with snow and sleet coming down hard through the air. Peggy Carter was, for once, actually enjoying herself though. It was her day off, she had a warm fire going and nice cup of tea and no one was trying to take over the world or kill anyone. At least she was having a nice time relaxing until the phone rang. The call that would change her life.

Peggy answered it, promptly dropped the phone and ran out the doors. Quickly she got into the car and sped to the hospital. Howard and his wife Maria had been in a car accident. Both had died on impact. What scared her though was the fact that the Starks' butler, Edwin Jarvis had been in the crash and he was now in critical condition.

Peggy marched through the hospital doors and flashed her federal badge at anyone who tried stopping her. "I'm here to see someone, Edwin Jarvis, he was just in a car accident."

"Ma'am, you can't see him right now," someone said. Peggy resisted the urge to punch whoever it was, her friend was dying, he needed her. But she let herself be guided to the waiting room, the world around her seeming distant.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before someone finally came and told her the situation.

"There was a lot of damage, he may not make it through the night," the nurse said softly.

"Can I see him?" Peggy asked, unable to escape the gaping hole she felt in her stomach.

The nurse nodded and took her to his room before leaving her alone with him. Peggy's breath hitched at the sight of Jarvis, tubes running into nose and a bandage wrapped against his head. There was a beeping noise from the heart monitor but it was far too slow. She stepped close to his bedside and reached down, wrapping her fingers around his limp hand.

"Mr. Jarvis..." she said, her breath hitching. Oh God, not Jarvis, please not Jarvis. Not after all they had been through and everyone else she had lost.

0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0

Several hours later, Peggy was half asleep when Jarvis gasped out suddenly, the heart monitor beginning to race. She leapt foward as he tried sitting up in a blind panic.

"Mr Jarvis! Mr. Jarvis! It's Peggy, Ms. Carter, calm down," Peggy said, gently holding him down. "You're injured, don't move or you'll hurt yourself more."

"Ms Carter?" Jarvis repeated, slowly beginning to relax.

"Yes," she said softly, looking down at him. He looked around the hospital room and all the monitors before looking up at her with wide, worried eyes.

"The car- the roads- it crashed, Mr. and Mrs. Stark are they alright?" he asked.

"Mr. Jarvis..." Peggy said softly, biting her lower lip.

"They are alright? Ms. Carter please."

He watched her as she pulled the chair close to his bedside and sat down, taking his hand. She looked at him with tears brimming around her eyes.

"They didn't make it," she said softly.

Jarvis stared at her. He didn't know how to react.

"I've failed them," he whispered. He knew the pain he felt in his shattered heart wasn't from any of the injuries. He had been driving, he should have been more careful on the slick roads, he should have refused to drive Howard anywhere that night if anything. He didn't and now his employer and his friend was dead with his wife. IF anything he should have died, not them

"Mr. Jarvis you did not," Peggy said, a kind of sternness in her voice and she squeezed his hand. "Don't do that to yourself."

"Ms. Carter," Jarvis breathed, but he couldn't finish as his breath caught in his throat and his vision blurred with tears. The next thing he knew, Peggy had gotten up and managed to get around all the machines and things connected to him, and somehow had her arms around him. He couldn't help but sob into her arm as she held him.

Peggy was crying too. Crying for Howard, that ridiculous man. He may have been ridiculous and become a drunk in his later years, but Howard had been a good man. He treated her with respect as well and was a good friend. She cried for Jarvis too, her heart breaking again at his broken state.

Together they held onto each other and cried for a long time, letting out all the emotions and being grateful for each other and the friendship they shared. Jarvis eventually fell asleep in Peggy's arms, exhaustion and medicine taking the better of him in the end. Peggy held him a little longer, feeling as if she was protecting him from all the bad. She was comforted by the now steady beat of the heart monitor. Her best friend would live to see another day, she knew it.


End file.
